Shroud guard



Filed March 15, 1965 0 0 z 2 .r a an r 9 I 1 W L 2 a P2 ll/I/J/l/ ///W,////./////1///A 6 & J W J M J W 3 7 1 9 a 5 j Z 9 ll M Z I: ll KM m M m i m 6 2. 0

lNVE/VTOP BYJOSEPH A PALM United States Patent 3,318,277 SHROUD GUARD Joseph A. Palm, 2447 Grivey Ave., Anaheim, Calif. 92804 Filed Mar. 15, 1965, Ser. No. 439,833 3 Claims. (Cl. 114-102) This invention relates to a guard for application to the shrouds that give lateral support to the mast of a boat.

An object of this invention is to provide a shroud guard that is applied to the shrouds where the leech of a jib sail or other fore-and-aft sail that is moved in a manner to cause the leech to rub over the shrouds, thereby providing a means that minimizes wear on the leech and adjacent portions of such a sail.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shroud guard, as characterized above, which may be applied to any desired portion of a shroud as well as to portions adjacent to and including the shroud tensioning means.

This invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The above objects may be realized in a device that comprises anchor discs that are aflixed to a shroud, a sectional core portion that is anchored to one or more of said discs to prevent longitudinal movement along the shroud, a plastic tubular member enclosing said core and formed of a material that minimizes friction with the leech of a jib or other fore-and-aft sail that swings from one side of a boat to the other, as when tacking, and sectional caps at each end of the core, extending partly into the opposite end of said tubular member, and anchored to other discs provided on the shroud. Said caps are conical or otherwise formed so as to allow a line or the leech or foot of the jib to readily slide therealong with minimum possibility of snagging. Another form of guard may have a cap at one end while the opposite end is recessed to house the usual turnbuckle that draws the shroud tight.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangement of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description and which is based on the accompanying drawing. However, said drawing merely shows, and the following description merely describes, preferred embodiments of the present invention, which are given by Way of illustration or example only.

In the drawing, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a sailboat showing the present guards applied to the shrouds and the relationship of said guards to a jib sail.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged and broken quarter sectional view of one form of guard on a shroud.

FIG. 3 is an end view thereof.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view as taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a broken view, partly in elevation and partly in vertical section, of a modification.

FIG. 1 shows a sailboat 6 with a mast 7 to which is connected a main sail 8. A pair of shrouds 9 give lateral support to said mast on the side of the boat that is shown, similar shrouds being provided on the opposite side. A jib 10, in the usual way, extends from the masthead to the bowsprit (or to a jibboom) and is set upon a stay or its own luif 11 so that the leech 12 of the sail may swing from side to side of the boat according to manipulation of the sheets 13 connected to the clew 14 of said sail.

The present invention provides the shrouds with guards 15 where the leech 12 and foot 16 of said jib sail are likely to encounter and rub against said shrouds during swinging of said sail, as when tacking. It will be understood that the mast-supporting shrouds 9 are representative of shrouds that support the spars or booms of other fore-and-aft sails. Hence, the term jib or jib sail is intended to include swinging fore-and-aft sails, generally, and the term shroud is intended to include stays or like members, regardless whether they extend vertically or in directions more nearly horizontal.

Each guard 15 comprises a plurality of discs 17 that are aflixed to the shroud 9, a sectional core 18 connected to some of said discs around the shroud, a plastic tube 19 fitted over said core 18, the same, as in FIG. 2, extending at both ends beyond the ends of the core and, in FIG. 5, extending beyond the upper end of said core, and a sectional cap 20 extending beyond each end of the tube 19, in the form of FIG. 2 and into the upper extension of said tube, in the form of FIG. 5, said ca-ps being connected to one or more of the other discs 17. In the guard shown in FIG. 2, a shroud-tensioning turnbuckle 21, provided on the lower end of the shroud and connected to the chains 22 (FIG. 1), extends partly into the lower cap 20, while the guard shown in FIG. 5 has the entire buckle or, at least, the turn part thereof housed either in a lower core portion 23, as shown, or in an extension of the core 18.

The core 18, caps 20 and core portion 23 are advantageously formed of wood,- of the hardness of pine, although plastics, wood composition and other moldable nn-metallic materials may be used. The discs 17 are preferably of metal. The tube 19 is preferably formed of Teflon TFE or Teflon FEP, both products of Du Pont de Nemours of Wilmington, Del. Said Teflon tubes have high resistance to erosion by salt air and water, and, due to the slickness of the surfaces thereof, have high resistance to friction and abrasion by the leech and foot of a jib sail, and by the sheets controlling swinging of such a sail.

The discs 17 are slit, as at 24, so the same may be applied to the shroud 9 laterally. One or more such discs 17a, properly spaced, are provided for the core 18, one, a disc 17b, for each cap 20, and one, a disc 170, for the core extension 23.

The core 18 comprises two similar sections 25, as seen best in FIG. 4, that enclose the shroud 9 and have semicircular grooves 26 into which the discs 17a fit. Tongue and groove portions 27 hold the sections 25 in register.

The caps 20 comprise two similar sections 28 into which the discs 17b fit, the same having extending conical ends 29 that taper from the tube 19 in a manner that enables engaging parts of a jib sail to slide readily therealong and then over the outer surface of the tube. The lower cap 20 may have an enlarged hole to receive the screw end 30 of the turnbuckle 21.

The lower core portion 23 of FIG. 5 has the same construction as does the core 18 except that the same engages the disc 17c and has an end hollow 31 that houses substantially all of the turnbuckle 21. Thus, the turnbuckle is treated as part of the shroud 9 and is guarded to minimize abrasion of portions of the jib sail contacting it.

The caps 20 may also be made of plastic to provide the same with a slick surface similar to the surface of the tube 19. Also, a Teflon coating may be bonded to exposed portions of the caps.

The tube 19 may be slipped over the shroud 9 from the screw end 30 which, however, is first disconnected from the buckle. Said end 30 and buckle are reconnected and the shroud tautened. Then the guard is assembled on the shroud.

The core 18 and caps 20, as well as the core portion 23 are formed so as to hold the tube concentrically on the shroud 9.

While the foregoing has illustrated and described What is now contemplated to be the best mode of carrying out Having thus described this invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A shroud guard comprising:

(a) an elongated tube of plastic material strung over the shroud,

(b) a plurality of metal discs affixed to the shroud in spaced relation to each other,

(e) sectional core members engaged with some of said discs to retain the latter against endwise movement along the shroud, the tube being fitted over the core members,

(d) said tube having ends extending beyond said core members, and

(e) a tapered cap engaged with two other discs fixed in each tube end and extending beyond the ends of the tube.

2. A shroud guard comprising:

(a) an elongated tube of plastic material strung over the shroud,-

(b) a plurality of metal discs affixed to the shroud in spaced relation to each other,

(c) sectional core members engaged with some of said discs to retain the latter against endwise movement along the shroud, the tube being fitted over the core members,

(d) one end of said tube extending beyond said core member,

(e) a tapered cap engaged with another disc, fixed in said tube end and extending therebeyond, and

(f) the other end of the tube extending beyond the opposite end of the core member, and

(g) a turnbuckle-housing core extension portion disposed in saidother end of the tube.

3. A shroud guard according to claim 1 in which said tapered caps are sectional, said sectional core members and caps being retained in engagement with the metal discs by said tube and held thereby against longitudinal movement along the vshroud.

References Cited by the Examiner MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner.

T. M. BLIX, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A SHROUD GUARD COMPRISING: (A) AN ELONGATED TUBE OF PLASTIC MATERIAL STRUNG OVER THE SHROUD, (B) A PLURALITY OF METAL DISCS AFFIXED TO THE SHROUD IN SPACED RELATION TO EACH OTHER, (C) SECTIONAL CORE MEMBERS ENGAGED WITH SOME OF SAID DISCS TO RETAIN THE LATTER AGAINST ENDWISE MOVEMENT ALONG THE SHROUD, THE TUBE BEING FITTED OVER THE CORE MEMBERS, (D) SAID TUBE HAVING ENDS EXTENDING BEYOND SAID CORE MEMBERS, AND (E) A TAPERED CAP ENGAGED WITH TWO OTHER DISCS FIXED IN EACH TUBE END AND EXTENDING BEYOND THE ENDS OF THE TUBE. 